Rooney Pins Hopes On Ronaldo
(Soccer365.com) - Wayne Rooney has hailed Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo as "by far the best player in the world".
At the World Cup last summer, the young duo famously clashed during England's World Cup quarter-final defeat by Portugal.
Many pundits, and some senior figures among Rooney's international colleagues, were unhappy at Ronaldo's part in his club-mate's dismissal in Gelsenkirchen.
Although he admitted afterwards he was disappointed with Ronaldo's conduct, Rooney was quick to forgive the winger and happy to put the past to one side in a combined effort to bring glory to Old Trafford.
Yet Rooney can hardly have expected to be shunted into the shade quite as much as he has been by Ronaldo this term.
The £27million forward may have broken a 17-game Champions League drought with his goal in Rome last week. But, as injury-hit United look to overturn Roma's 2-1 advantage in Tuesday night's quarter-final decider at Old Trafford, there is no doubt who the home supporters will be pinning most of their hopes on.
"At the minute, Cristiano is by far the best player in the world," said Rooney.
"He performances have been unbelievable. He is winning games on his own this season. He has been unbelievable.
"Hopefully he can work some of his magic and get us into the semi-finals."
Rooney's praise is confirmation, if it were needed, of Ronaldo's remarkable reaction to the adverse publicity he received on the back of England's exit in Germany, which looked certain at one stage to drive him out of Old Trafford for good.
Amazingly though, he is yet to score at all for United on the biggest club stage of all.
His talent is not in question, given the regularity with which he appears on the scoresheet for both club and country, but how United could do with the 22-year-old adding to his 16 Premiership goals against Roma given the difficulty of the task awaiting them.
Five times in Champions League history United have attempted to overturn a first-leg deficit in knockout combat, and five times they have failed.
The latest occasion came against AC Milan three years ago, when Rooney and Ronaldo were both involved, but too raw and inexperienced to have any kind of influence on the overall outcome.
"We were still young and trying to learn the game," said Rooney.
"Playing against the likes of (Paolo) Maldini and (Alessandro) Nesta gives you a good platform to learn from. I feel we have both improved as players since then, and matured a lot."
With Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Park Ji-sung and Louis Saha missing through injury, and Paul Scholes suspended following his needless red card in the Stadio Olimpico, Rooney and Ronaldo will certainly need to rise to the occasion if United are to book a semi-final meeting with either Milan or Bayern Munich.
Rooney's goal at least gives United heart, especially after producing such a battling performance during a game when they were down to 10 men for almost an hour.
"There has been a lot of talk about the fact I have not scored for a while in the Champions League," said Rooney.
"Hopefully now the talking will stop and I can concentrate on trying to get more goals.
"I don't know why I had not scored. I have had chances. Maybe I should have scored on some occasions, on others the keeper has made good saves. But obviously, it is a relief to finally get the goal."
The fatigue lingering from that effort in Italy was shown at Fratton Park on Saturday, when the Red Devils crashed to a defeat which raised major question marks over their ability to hold off Chelsea on the six-game Barclays Premiership title run-in.
United's current lengthy injury list hardly helps dispel those fears.
Rooney, though, believes there is more than enough talent within the Old Trafford dressing room to ensure a positive and forceful response to the end of an unbeaten run stretching back to the loss at Arsenal in the middle of January.
"It is important the reaction from the weekend is a positive one," he said.
"We are disappointed with the weekend result but this is a different tournament.
"We have played well all season and we don't want to let ourselves down now."
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Comments
it's about time rooney take some leadership on the team and start scoring goals. ronaldo can't do it all..
Posted by: john | April 9, 2007 05:02 PM
Actually John Ronaldo has not been doing it all. Before all the recent injuries United had racked up over two thirds of the starting line up for United as well as subs' have scored for them on a regular basis all through the season. They just ran into a lot of injuries lately & I think they are a little burned out as well just like all the professional teams in Europe. They make them play far too many games now each year & after sometime all that takes it's toll.
Posted by: Spivey Point | April 9, 2007 06:21 PM
I agree spivey , but Cristiano Ronaldo is still the best player on man u
Posted by: RcFutbolFreak | April 9, 2007 08:50 PM
All the best man U for tonight showdown!
Posted by: Revelian S. N | April 10, 2007 09:26 AM
But any one who watched the first leg game between Man U nad AS ROMa, will agree with Rooney that Papa Ronaldo is the best player in the world. Remember the way he was controling the ball through the Romas'best players and how he helped Man U to score the away goal! So he is not only the best player on Man U like Freak said but....of the world.
Posted by: Revelian S. N | April 10, 2007 09:38 AM
it is true. ronaldo is the best. It made me laugh that in the pre-match build up to the game, mancini and panucci both said ronaldo would not be able to perform all of his tricks against the roma defenders. He absolutely tore up the whole back line. COME ON UNITED!!! SEMI'S HERE WE COME!!!
Posted by: bredred | April 10, 2007 01:55 PM
I totally agree Revelian in my opinion Ronaldo is the best in the world. Many will disagree and say Ronaldinho or Cannovaro ect....but when it comes down to playmaking and being able to spark ur team with a fast goal the best is Cristiano Ronaldo.
Posted by: RcFutbolFreak | April 10, 2007 02:59 PM
Here it has come Man U 7 and As Roma 1. need u say more about C. Ronaldo? Of coz every body saw what Ronaldo was doing on the pitch-moving everywhere on ground enjoying his tacticks against As Roma players!
Posted by: Revelian S. N | April 11, 2007 07:27 AM
Ya Ronaldo is the best all around player ManU has. I think he's better than Ronnie from Barca as well. His skills are on the same level as Ronnie's but where he leaves Ronnie in the dust is he can do all the same things at a much faster speed. Good to see Rooney scoring again. He's not as flashy as Ronaldo but he has a great touch & he's a hard worker. He chases down almost every ball & his tough as well. Let's put it this way. Both Ronaldo & Rooney run circles around Big Mouth Totti! 4 Sure!
Posted by: Dave | April 11, 2007 08:47 AM